Antisubmarine.



w. A. GILDAY. ANTlSUBMARlNE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 7|191A 1,267,539. Patented May 25, 12H8.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

g. CO

Patented May 28, 1918..

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

w. A. GILDAY. vANTISUBMRINF..

AFPLICATXON FILED SEPT. 7, 1917.

' rre WILLIAM A. GILDAY, :OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA..

ANTIS'UBMARINE. i

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 28, 1918. i

Application led September 7, 1917. Serial N o. 190,153.

To all whom it may conce/m.'

Be it known that I, VILLIAM A. Granny, a citizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and VState ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inAntisubmarines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to protective and offensive devices andparticularly to that class, which is designed to be applied to vessels,to protect them from damage of any sort to their hulls and especiallysuch damage as arises vfrom the explosion of mines, torpedoes, and thelike, near or adjacent thereto.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of thischaracter which will oifer the leastv possible impedance to the speed ofthe ship to which it is applied.

And another object is to provide a series of plates forming an auxiliaryor secondary outer side of the hull of a vessel and so connected theretothat said plates can be folded or otherwise brought into close proximityto the sides and hull of a vessel either in unison or independently ofone another.

A still further object of the invention comprises the combination of aplate pivotally secured to the outer side of the hull of a vessel andadapted to be swung into close proximity thereto when its function isnot needed, with a plate yieldingly secured to the bottom of the vesseland operative to yield upwardly uponstriking a submerged object.

And a still further object is to provide a suitable means for actuatingthe auxiliary hull sections or armor plates above referred to, eithersingly or in groups.

And yet another object of the invention resides in the formation orprovision of an improved form of open lattice work or gratingspositioned opposite to, and operative to protect, .the tapering bowsection of the vessel and at the same time to oifer a minimumretardation to the speed of said vessel as said gratings encounter thewater resistance caused by the forward motion of the vessel.

Further objects and advantages in the invention, together with thevarious details in the construction and operation of the preferred formof the device are fully described iny the following specification whenVread in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l isa side elevation of a vessel equipped with the improved device; Fig. 2is a top plan view of the` same;

Fig. 3 is a vertical, transverse section through the vessel; Fig. l isan enlargeddetailed sec tional view of the left hand side of Fig. 3;Fig. 5 is a detailed view of one of the hinged pins for the sidesections; Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary detailed sectionillustrating the cooperation of said sections; Fig. 7 is an enlargedfragmentary view of the keel member; Fig. 8 is an enlarged detailed viewof the adjacent portions of two of the bow gratings, and Fig. 9 is avertical transverse section of the same.

l Referring to the drawings a ship is repre sented as comprising a hullhaving vertical side walls l, and a Substantially horizontally extendingbottom wall 2 with'theusual deck 3, super-structure 4, stacks 5, andloading derricks 6, ywhile the bow of said hull is tapered forwardly inthe usual manner as shown vin Fig. 2 and at the *reary is taperedslightly and externally provided with additional armor protection in theform of plates 7, while a ram 8 extends longitudinally of and centrallybeneath the bottom wall 2 and at the same time comprises a means forcutting into a hollow body such as a submarine or the like.

Said bottomy wall, in addition to being protected by armor platessecured directly thereto, or by increasing the thickness of the wall, isprotected by means of a series of oppositely extending metal plates 12,pivotably connected at 13 at opposite sides of said bottom wall andoperative to yield upwardly upon striking a submerged object or uponbeing struckby an exploding mine, torpedo, or the like, each of saidplates being provided at its free edge portion with reduced tongueportions 14. extending slidably through, and operative to move upwardlyin the corresponding apertures 15 in the ram 8,1said apertures beingthus shown in Fig. 7. The tongues of the pla-tes extending in onedirection are arranged out of alinement with'the tongues of the platesextending in an opposite direction, so that the movement of noneconflicts with the position or movement of any of the others.

Extending in substantially parallel relation with the opposite sidesofthe ships hull and between the tapered bow and stern portions is aseries yof armor plates 20, theforward plate of each consecutive pairoverlapping the next plate rearwardly thereof as shown in Fig. 6, whilethe former is prof vided with a plurality of dowel pins-21,

through the the recesses 22 in an oppositely positioned portion of thelatter, and operative thereby to prevent a shifting of one plate withrespect to the next adjacent thereto in their common plane, while ineither a raised position against, or when spaced angularly away from,the said sides of the ships hull. Each of these plates is preferablylaminated or at least ot double thickness in order to make the samerelatively enible and less likely to become destroyed or cracked uponbeing struck by an exploding mine or submarine against which they aredesigned to protect the ship by which they are carried.

Referring particularly to Fig. d, the plates 20 are provided with lugs21a, which are so curved as to t snugly into hollowed brackets 22a,secured to the opposite lower portions ot the side walls of the shipshull, said lugs being removably retained in position Within saidbrackets by means or" a pin (Fig. 5) provided with a shank 28, handle24, and lug 25, said lug being adapted to pass transversely enlargedopenings 26 in the sides or said brackets 22, and upon turning `theshank by `means of the handle attached tl creto, to oscillate into sucha position as to prevent any possible accidental removing ot said pinfrom said bracket in which position the cooperation ot the lug 21a,bracket 22a, pin 23 operate to yform a rigid hinged mounting for each orthe plates 20. o

To predetermine and yieldingly maintain a dehnite position of saidplates either singly or as a unitary wall with respect to the adjacentside walls oi' the ships hull, there are provided links 30, secured bymeans ot staples 31ste each o the said plates, while the innermost endsof said links slidably coperate with the elongated staples 32. Theselinks may be of any desired number and arrangement, while the plateswhich they are designed to position areA reinforced longitudinally bymeans of angle bars 33 and of any desired number and position.

For raising and lowering the said protec tive plates 2O either singly orupon each side of the ship simultaneously, there is provided anindividual motor 35 for each plate, preferably connected through anidler 36 to drive the drum 37, about which is coiled the intermediateportion o a cable or chain 38, the opposite ends 39 01" which extendrespectively upwardly and downwardly and over pulleys d0, supported by asuitable frame l provided with spaced apertures Lila, and are adapted toenter secured at their ends to a sliding block 42,

provided with a hole l2a and a lug e3 to which is pivotably secured alink ed, which at its opposite end is pivotably secured by means of aneyelet staple e5 to the uppermost edge portion ot its adjacent plate 20.The operating motor idler and drum are incasso preferably housed withina casing -l and are so controlled as to be operated either individuallyor in groups as may be desired.

ln operation the motor 35 raises the block 4t2 by means of the cable 38and thus raises the rod de and the plate 20 to which it is secured,while with this action the upper links 30 at their inner ends slidealong the staples 32 and take posit-ions parallel with the adjacent sideof the hull l, and the lower links collapse, thus permitting theplate 2Oto swing as a whole about the pin 23 in a position adjacent to andparallel with the side of the ships hull. rhe rod 44, in addition tobeing employed as a means Jfor raising the side plates 20, operates tomaintain the respective plates to which each ot said rods is connectedin any one of said predetermined positions by raising or lowering block4:2 until the aperture therein registers ,l

with any desired one ot the series of holes el@ in the post with guide4l, in which position said block and, consequently, the rod la andplates 20, connected therewith, are maintained by a pin passingvthroughsaid registerin@- apertures and hole.

is a continuation of the solid yplate 2O to and around the tapered bowportion of the ships hull would obviously otler too great a resistanceto the passage of the water thereby there is provided over this portionand upon opposite sides thereof series of armor units 50, comprising alat tice work of horizontally extending angle irons 5l and verticallyextending plates or rods 52, the downwardly extendinganges of the formerbeing mutilated or entirely removed between the latter, to furtherdecrease the resistance to the water offered thereby, the verticalplates adjacent to the units 50 being made to overlap and ifdesiredprovided with dowel pins or other locking means as previously describedin connection with the side plates 20, said lattice work being pivotablyconnected to the hull of the ship in the same general manner as alsopreviously described in detail, while the orwardmost lattice frame ispirotably mounted directly upon the upwardly extending prow 8a.y rlheseunits may 1 likewise be raised and lowered either singly or in groupstoward or away from the ships side and in their outermost positions areyieldingly maintained in spaced relation from the ships hull by means ofthe usual links 80 with their staplel connections.

ln view of the foregoing description and especially as illustrated bythe accompanying drawings, it is obvious that there has been provided aprotective vmeans for the hull ot a ship, which will offer a minimumdegree ot retardation against the surrounding water and in additionthereto presents certain features which are of especial advantage. ltwill be realized from examining the Fig. 3 in particular, `thatatorpedoor mine exploding beneath the ships hull will have the major. portion ofits explosive force ytaken `up by the yielding plates 12 andConsequently lessen to a lgreat degree the effective torce of theexplosion upon the bottom wall ofthe said hull. In addition to this ytheformation of the ram-oi'ers "a means for cutting into a hull body suchas is presented by the construction of a submarine.

The operation of 4the invention in protecting a ship is similarlyapparent from an understanding of the construction and operation ofthe'au'xiliary, normally angularly disposed sides comprising a series ofindependently movable plates. In the event of a submarine striking oneor more of these plates, the latter would readily yield inwardly and thewater between it and the hull would naturally be forced upwardly, thusabsorbing a great amount of the shock of the explosion and transmittingbut a small portion thereof to the actual side of the hull proper. Inaddition to these advantages, the simple meansior raising the auxiliarysides makes it possible for the same to be withdrawn into positionsclosely adjacent to the hull when not in use and thus offering but veryslight resistance to the buoying medium.

.Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protectby Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A protective device, comprising the combination of a plate pivotablymounted upon the side of the hull of a vessel, means to yieldinglymaintain said plate in angular relation or parallel with said side, asecond plate pivotably mounted to the underside of the said hull, keelprovided with apertures and means carried by said second plate andextending into said apertures to limit downward movement of said secondplate with respect to said hull.

:2. A protective device, comprising the combination of a series ofoverlapping plates upon the opposite sides of the hull ot a vessel,means to yieldingly position the individual pla-tes of each series inspaced relation or parallel with the respective adjacent sides of saidhull, an apertured keel carried by the bottom of said hull platespivotably mounted upon said bottom and means carried by said last-namedplates and cooperating with the sides of said apertures to limit thedownward movement of said second plates. all of said plates when in anoperative position being adapted to yield upon receiving an externalimpact.

3. A protective device, comprising a lattice work pivotably connected tothe side of the hull of a vessel, .means to yieldingly maintain saidlattice in operative extended angular relation with said side, saidlattice comprising horizontally extending angle irons'and transverselyextending bars connectingthe same, theflanges of said angle irons lyingina plane with'said lattice being mutilated or entirelyremoved betweensaid bars.

e. A protective device, comprising the combination of a plate pivotablymounted upon the side of thehull of a vessel,'means to yieldinglymaintain said plate inangular relation or parallel with said side, asecond plate pivotably mounted to the underside offthe saidhull, keelyprovided with apertures, means carried by said second plate andextending into said apertures to limit downward 'movement of said secondplate with respect to said hull, and a lattice work section pivotablycarried by the tapered bow portion of said side, and comprisinglongitudinal angle irons and transversely extending bars, the flange ofsaid angle irons lying in the plane of said lattice work being removedfrom between said bars.

5. A protective device, comprising the `combination of a series ofoverlapping plates upon the opposite sides of the hull of a vessel,means to yieldingly position the individual plates of each series inspaced relation or parallel with the respective adjacent sides of saidhull, an apertured keel carried by the bottom of said hull, platespivotably mounted upon said bottom and means carried by said last-namedplates, cooperating with the sides of said apertures 1B@ to limit thedownward movement of said second plates, all of said plates when in anoperative position being adapted to yield upon receiving an externalimpact, and a series of overlapping lattice work frames pivotablycarried upon the opposite sides of said vessel and opposite to thetapered bow portion of the latter, said frames when in operativeextending positions forming continuations of said series of plates, each119 of said frames comprising longitudinall angle irons and transversebars connecting the same, the flanges of said angle irons lying in aplane of said frame being removed from between said bars.

6. An apparatus for protecting ships against exterior harmful agencies,comprising a series of protecting members pivotably connected at theirlowermost portions to the said ship adjacent to the bottom thereof, 120and means for oscillating the said members toward or away from the sidesof the ship, said means including guides upon the ship, members movablealong said guides, and members pivotably connected' to said last- 125amed members and said rst named memers.

7. An apparatus for protecting ships against exterior harmful agencies,comprising a series of protecting members pivotably connected at their,lowermost portions to the said ship adjacent to the bottom thereof,

and means for oscillating the said members toward or away from the sidesof the ship, said means including guides upon the ship, members movablealong said guides, and members pivotably connected to said lastnamedmembers and said first named members, and braces pivotably Connected tosaid lirst members and slidably connected to the side of the ship.

8. An apparatus for Qroteotmg ships against exterior harmful agencies,comprismg a series of protecting members pivotably connected at theirlowermost portion to the laaemaao ship adjacent to the bottom thereof,braces pivotably connected to said first members and slidably connectedto the sides of the ship, and means for oscillating the said memberstoward or away from the sides of the ship, said means including guidesupon the ship, members movable along said guides, actuating meanscarried by said ship and operative to aotuate said last-named membersalong said guides, and members pivot-y ablyT connected to said movablemembers and to said protecting members.

ln testlmonjyv whereof l have aftixed my signature.

VVB/I. A. GLDAY.

opes of `this patent may be obtained for .t1-re cents each, by aressingthe Gommssoner of Eatentas ashngton, D.

